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Iowa lawmakers approve bill removing transgender civil rights protections

By Elaine Mallon February 28, 2025 | updated 5 months ago

Legal protections based on a person’s “gender identity” or “gender expression” are expected to end in Iowa after lawmakers in the state House and Senate passed a measure to remove key phrasing from the state’s civil rights code.

If Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) signs the legislation, Iowa will be the first state in the nation to remove explicit protections for transgender people.

The legislation explicitly defines male and female. Gender will also be considered a synonym for sex and “shall not be considered a synonym or shorthand expression for gender identity, experienced gender, gender expression, or gender role.”

While Reynolds has not publicly weighed in on the bill, she has previously signed legislation prohibiting transgender women from playing in women’s sports and requiring transgender people to use bathrooms that align with their birth sex.

Introduced last week, the new measure was first approved by the state Senate on Thursday along party lines. Then an hour later, the House passed the bill. Five Republicans joined all Democrats in opposing the legislation. 

“The legislature of Iowa for the future of our children and our culture has a vested interest and solemn responsibility to stand up for immutable truth,” said GOP state Rep. Steven Holt, who managed the bill on the House floor.

There was a heavy police presence at the state Capitol on Thursday as activists protested the bill. During a 90-minute public hearing, 143 people spoke out against the bill and only 24 spoke in favor.

“The purpose of this bill and the purpose of every anti-trans bill is to further erase us from public life and to stigmatize our existence,” Democratic state Rep. Aime Wichtendahl, who is transgender, said. “The sum total of every anti-trans and anti-LGBTQ bill is to make our existence illegal.”

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The legislation comes about six weeks into the presidency of Donald Trump, who signed a slew of executive orders, such as declaring that there are just two genders and ending transgender women’s participation in female sports.

If Reynold signs it, the law will go into effect on July 1.

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